So I've been cutting refined sugars out of my diet only eating fruits or natural almond butter whenever I crave something sweet. I do however, add about a tea spoon of honey in my plain greek yogurt on a daily basis along with fresh fruits. I just love the taste of honey and figured since it's natural, it would be better than buying the flavored yogurts that contain sugar of some kind of subsitute.

I'm not following any famous diet or anything, just trying to eat as many raw foods as I can as well as and avoiding bad carbs contained in pre-packaged foods and food made with white flour.

What are your thoughts on honey? I read online that it could be good for weight loss but at the same time it's still sugar and contains lots of carbs. I'm afraid I could be ruining my efforts by eating honey every day.

Not sure about it ruining your efforts but it is def better than "man-made" sugars, I limit the amount of honey I eat just because it make me crave more sweet things - but Honey is easily digestable so I dont see it being a problem (in moderation anyway) I think alot of people have different views - Honey just has a bad conotation for me as a "Fatty" food purely because Winnie the pooh was fat and loved honey....... weird I know.

I can't imagine that one teaspoon of honey a day in your yogurt is going to derail your dieting. If you were adding refined sugar, then I'd probably ask why you needed to. And, yes, honey is basically sugar in, well, honey form and it does have a lot of carbs. But, natural sweeteners just don't impact my body the way that the refined ones do.

I should add the caveat that I'm no expert in this area -- this is just my opinion. There are other who post who seem to have close to a dietician's background, so you might want to see what they have to say.

A quick wikipedia search and it looks like honey has similar sugar ratios as the dreaded and over-hyped HFCS! That being said, I don't think there's anything better or worse about honey compared to other sugar syrups natural or artificial.

I love me some honey and include it in my daily eating. Just as long as you use it in moderation, there really shouldn't be any harm in it!

I absolutely love honey! I don't know how it would be good for weight loss but like Nelie said, if you're able to fit it in your plan without feeling deprived of anything else, do it!

I love it in greek yogurt too along with some apples to dip in but never thought to put it in my natural crunchy almond butter I just got (which frankly does not taste that good as natural peanut butter does, lol!) Thanks for the idea!

__________________Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.- Winston Churchill

I think the plus about honey aside from the "natural aspect" is that it has actual flavor - a tiny bit can make a difference. I would also make sure the honey is "real" and as unrefined as possible. Some of that stuff in the bear squeeze bottle is honey and other sugars! I grew up with bee hives and extracting our own honey so have a fondness that goes beyond taste. I found a great raw honey called Wild Mountains at my local Vons store - intense flavor. Just a whisper on toasted whole wheat is enough. It even smells intensely "honeyish"

I love honey too... And I love trying different kinds and varietals from various different regions... I just picked up a few different kinds from varoius regions of France and they really do have noticeable different flavor profiles... and I've had some relatively "local" raw honey that I really like as well... And I have friends that swear by the "health" benefits of "raw" honey, especially when it comes to relieving their "seasonal" allergies.... But of course that's all anecdotal...

But now as far as honey and dieting... It's still basically "sugar" no matter how "natural" it may be.... But for me the flavor that it imparts is worth the 50 or 60 calories or so for the small spoonful that I'll use from time to time...

Someone may have said this already but raw, natural, unprocessed honey is a pretty good alternative to sugar or high fructose corn syrup. It has health benefits and won't cause blood sugar spikes. Most of the honey you can find in stores has had sugar added to it, has been refined, and has no nutritional value so look for raw honey. I love honey!

There's not much good about honey, honestly...refined or not refined, it's a simple sugar. Fruit sugar is wrapped up in fiber and has vitamins, which is why you're still recommended to eat fruit. Honey is just sugar though. Natural isn't always good.

Like what kind of health benefits? Where did you read that it wouldn't cause blood sugar spikes?

Just from what my "Whole Foods Companion" book tells me, raw honey has anti-septic properties, as well as antiviral, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, immune-boosting properties, etc, etc. Also, it's a natural cough remedy. It is less likely to cause blood sugar spikes because it "has the natural complexity of a whole food," according to my book. Natural, raw honey has countless uses and benefits.

Like what kind of health benefits? Where did you read that it wouldn't cause blood sugar spikes?

Actually I was curious about this as well... And I actually found some interesting stuff on PubMed... including an abstract "Honey -- a novel anti diabetic agent"

Also I didn't realize that the GI (glycemic index) of honey varies so much depending apparently on its floral source... Apparently the range can be between 30 to 90... So that means that it could have a lower GI than sucrose... which was interesting to learn... And actually there was several other studies that I came across just on PubMed alone about the various health benefits that were interesting as well... Since as I mentioned in my previous post all that I was really aware of is the use of locally sourced honey and its potential benefit in seasonal allergy relief...